Lord Mandelson: Tony Blair and Gordon Brown were closer to Rupert Murdoch than was wise

Tony Blair and Gordon Brown were closer to Rupert Murdoch than was wise, Lord
Mandelson told the Levson Inquiry today.

2:44PM BST 21 May 2012

Mr Mandelson said he did not believe there had been a 'Faustian pact' between the two former Prime Ministers and the Murdoch empire but admitted they both had a personal relationship with Mr Murdoch.

"I reject the view that, under either Mr Blair or Mr Brown, some sort of Faustian pact was forged between the government and Rupert Murdoch involving commercial concessions to him in return for support from his newspapers."

He said "the contrary" was the case.

But he added: "It is also arguably the case, however, that personal relationships between Mr Blair, Mr Brown and Rupert Murdoch became closer than was wise in view of the adverse inference drawn from the number of meetings and contacts they had.

"The same, I am sure, can be said for Mr Cameron and, no doubt, his predecessors."

"As far as the Labour Party is concerned, I do not believe, generally speaking, that the public interest was subordinated to the party's interests in seeking good relations with News International," he said in his written evidence to the inquiry.

Lord Mandelson denied today there was any deal between Labour and the Murdoch newspaper empire ahead of the 1997 general election.

The former business secretary told the Leveson Inquiry that Mr Blair sought to ''reassure'' The Sun over issues like Europe.

But he insisted there were no pacts made with any media proprietors in order to win their newspapers' support for Labour.

''In my view and from my experience and knowledge of the time, there was no deal, express or implied, between any proprietor and any leading politician for the Labour Party that suggested that in return for that proprietor's support for the Labour Party they could expect some favourable commercial treatment in return,'' he said.

''I don't believe any such deal happened and I don't believe such a relationship existed.''